Survey Research on e-Learningin Asian Countries - Fiscal Year 2002
(Country Specific Report - Vietnam)

- Table of Contents 1. Market: Market Trends of e-Learning..........................................................................................1
1.1 Status of IT Promotion (Centered on the Internet).................................................................1
1.1.1 Outline of the Internet .....................................................................................................1
1.1.2 Outline of ISP .................................................................................................................1
1.2 Status of Education and Training System..............................................................................2
1.2.1 Higher Education ............................................................................................................2
1.2.2 Vocational Education ......................................................................................................3
1.3 IT Human Resources Required.............................................................................................4
1.3.1 Outline of IT Human Resources .....................................................................................4
1.3.2 Outline of IT Human Resource Education ......................................................................4
1.4 E-Learning Market Trends.....................................................................................................4
2. Technology: Trends of e-Learning System (Synchronous & Asynchronous)...............................5
2.1 Hanoi University of Technology (HUT) ..................................................................................5
2.1.1 Overview ........................................................................................................................5
2.2 Project Name: The Distance Education project.....................................................................5
2.2.1 Overview ........................................................................................................................5
2.3 Project Name: Vietnam Human Resource Development Project ..........................................5
2.3.1 Overview ........................................................................................................................6
2.4 Service Name: MeetingPlaza................................................................................................6
2.4.1 Overview ........................................................................................................................6
3. Advanced Activities.....................................................................................................................6
4. Government Policy and its Vision (Mid- and Long-term Direction)..............................................7
4.1 Status of IT Policies...............................................................................................................7
4.1.1 Overview ........................................................................................................................7
4.1.2 Policies and its Details....................................................................................................7
4.2 E-Learning Related Measures as Part of IT or Educational Policies .....................................8
4.3 Laws Regulating Rights for Intellectual Property and Personal Information in e-Learning ....8
4.4 Vision ....................................................................................................................................8
4.5 International and National Conference..................................................................................8i1. Market: Market Trends of e-Learning
1.1 Status of IT Promotion (Centered on the Internet)
1.1.1 Outline of the Internet
Due to prolonged civil war and social disruption, Vietnam has been slow in improving thesocial infrastructures, including the communication infrastructure.
Vietnam has been concerned about information freely flowing into the country from foreigncountries via the Internet. This has prevented the country's IT level from reaching a levelsatisfactory for the free use or effective use of IT for business purposes. Basically, in thiscountry only websites that are judged by the government as "culturally acceptable" can beviewed through the Internet.
According to the statistics of ITU (2001), the number of Internet users in Vietnam in 2001
was about 1,001,000, which means that the Internet diffusion rate in this year was about
1.24%. Considering the fact that Vietnam has just begun to use the Internet in December
1997 and, according to the ITU survey, the number of Internet users in 1998 and 1999 wasabout 10,000 and 100,000 respectively, Internet use in Vietnam is growing rapidly.
However, Internet use is still limited because of high subscription fee compared to theincome level of citizens and an insufficient number of computers. Meanwhile, there is also amovement to use the Internet actively as a means for publishing information from thegovernment.
In Vietnam, 70% of the Internet users are foreigners and government organizations, whilemost Vietnamese use the Internet in Internet cafes in big cities such as Hanoi and Ho Chi
Minh City. The number of Internet cafes in this country in 2002 was estimated to beapproximately 4,000.
ADSL is available in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh, and Haiphong since March 2002, after theVietnam Data Company (VDC) made a test installation in Haiphong.
Vietnam has currently no broadband service by CATV subscriber line. The only CATV
provider in Vietnam is Vietnam Television. However, Hanoi Television, in partnership with
Hanoi P&T, plans to enter this business.

1.1.2 Outline of ISP
The largest ISP in the market is VDC, which has an affiliation with Vietnam Post andTelecommunications Corporation (VNPT). The second largest is the Corporation for Financing
and Promoting Technology (FPT).
VDC has an international bandwidth of 106Mbps for Internet use, as of April 2002. It has
used Singapore Telecom IX (IXP) as a main international bandwidth provider, as well as aprovider in Hong Kong, for worldwide connection bypassing the U.S. core. FPT and Vietel
acquired an IXP license in May 2002.
Privatization of ISPs is in progress. "Prime Ministerial Decision No. 178/2002/QD-TTg(February 28, 2002)" has allowed FPT, the leading ISP, to become a joint stock corporation.

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Table 1-1 Main ISPs
ISPs

Overview

Vietnam Data Company (VDC)

VDC was established in December 1989.

(Brand name: VietNamNet)

VDC is a government-run company having a business affiliation with VNPT,
which provides postal and communication services in Vietnam. VDC is
responsible for the administration and management of the Internet service
called VNN provided by VNPT. Using the Internet backbone of VNN
Vietnam, VDC provides Internet connection throughout the country. VDC
now also provides dedicated lines in addition to dial-up service.

http://www.vnn.vn/

The Corporation for Financing
and Promoting Technology (FPT)
http://www.fpt.vn/

FPT was a government-run company belonging to the Ministry of Science,
Technology and Environment. It was converted into a joint stock
corporation in February 2002. FPT is the largest company in the field ofsoftware development in the country.

Saigon Postel

Saigon Postel is one of the government-run companies including VNPT.

(Brand name: SaigonNet)
http://www.saigonnet.vn/

SaigonNet is an Internet service provided by SPT (Saigon Post andTelecommunications Service Corporation). It provides e-mail service andWeb hosting service, etc.

VietelVietel is a government-run company belonging to the Ministry of Defense.

http://www.vietel.com.vn/

Vietel acquired an IXP license in May 2002.

Institute of Information
Technology (IOIT)

IOIT is a government-run company belonging to the Ministry of Science,
Technology and Environment.

(Brand name: NetNam)

IOIT is an Internet access provider established in Hanoi in 1994 that is
administered by the Institute of Information Technology.

http://www.netnam.vn/

IOIT is mainly used by NGOs and multinational organizations for thedevelopment of the country. Services provided include e-mail, forums,
databases, and telephone conferencing, etc.
Source: Multiple reference documents

1.2 Status of Education and Training System
1.2.1 Higher Education
The central administrative organization for education in Vietnam is the Ministry of Education
and Training (MOET). Administration of education is provided in three levels: the government,
provinces, and cities and villages. Specifically, the government is responsible for planning of
education policies and setting of education course standards for various schools while local
authorities are responsible for the execution and supervision.
As for schools, technical and vocational education schools are provided and administeredby each governmental organization. Most universities and colleges are provided andadministered by the government, but some universities are provided and administered byprovinces (including cities under central authority). In Vietnam, the literacy rate of adults ismore than 90%.
In 2001, there were 136 national universities and 17 private universities, which areapproved for the establishment recently. Among the national universities, 40 universities havemaster's courses, among which 20 universities have doctoral courses.

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The number of students going to universities has been rapidly increasing. The number ofstudents in universities almost doubled from about 460,000 in 1996 to about 900,000 in 1999.
This significant increase is mainly attributed to the newly established private universities. The
number of teachers also increased from about 20,000 in 1996 to about 30,000 in 1999.
Since the 1980s, the central government has basically allowed autonomy of higher
education institutions so that each university can determine the curriculum on its own, except
for the minimum guidelines and standards for knowledge and skills that should be taught. In
1998, an education law that abolished the conventional curriculum approval system wasenforced so that each university could freely determine the curriculum. The education law also
specified the provision of an Accreditation Council to establish a system through which
education and research levels of higher education organizations are evaluated so that theorganization can keep the levels.
With recent economic growth that demands a workforce having advanced knowledge orskills as a background, the government is also actively working on adult education for the
purpose of improving the education level of the citizens.
In 1993, Hanoi Open University (HOU) and HCM City Semi-Public Open University were
established. These universities are administered as semi-private universities for which schoolbuildings are prepared by the government and only the funds for running the universities areprovided by the private sector. Each university provides education in which radio broadcasts
and correspondence materials (e.g., video cassette, audio cassette, and textbooks) are usedin order for students to study in regional centers or at home. Audio-visual materials are alsoutilized in the main campus. These universities also provide an education course for advanced
and mid-level engineers and managers of companies.

1.2.2 Vocational Education
Vietnam has vocational training institutions as shown below.
1) Vocational training school2) Vocational training center3) Non-public training school4) Intermediate vocational school5) Intermediate technical school
As of 2000, schools of 1) and 2) were equivalent to the lower and upper secondary
education of the general course, and they were intended for those who had completed theprimary or the lower secondary education. Schools of 3) and 4) were equivalent to the upper
secondary education or higher education for which those who had completed the lower orupper secondary education are eligible to enter.
Schools of 1)-3) are supervised by the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affair(MOLISA), while schools 4)-5) are supervised by the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET).
MOLISA started supervising vocational training in the country in 1998. MOLISA is different
from MOET in that MOET supervises vocational training focused on both practical training anddesk study while MOLISA provides a program focused on technical training to foster aworkforce having an adaptable fighting potential.
Teachers of a vocational training organization must have a bachelor's degree or mustcomplete a three-year teacher training program. Any teacher must have training again before
being dispatched to a site to teach a course. Teachers are classified into two levels by a national
qualification system. The provinces supervise improvement of teachers and curriculum.

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1.3 IT Human Resources Required
1.3.1 Outline of IT Human Resources
It is estimated that about 20,000 IT related staff worked in governmental sectors and IT user
departments of the private sector in Vietnam as of 2000, among which about 2,000 had
majored computer science in universities. Universities and colleges related to computerscience have about 600 teachers. The number of IT experts in IT companies is said to beabout 4,000, among which about 2,000 have graduated from universities or equivalentschools or higher educational organizations. Education of IT human resources in Vietnam has
provided 7,000 or more graduates from IT related faculties and annually provides more than
3,500 graduates.

1.3.2 Outline of IT Human Resource Education
Those universities having IT related faculties include Hanoi University of Technology (HUT),
Vietnam National University Hanoi, Hochiminh City University of Technology, Vietnam National
University - Ho Chi Minh City (VNU-HCM), Hue University, and Can Tho University (CTU).
There are software training centers in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
In addition to such formal education, "open college" is also provided in which various paid
trainings for external students is held for a period from few weeks to few months.
The government has a limited annual budget for the entirety of universities. Thus, each
university must make up the revenue shortfall mainly by holding seminars. Due to this,computer related courses or other courses for external students make a valuable income tothe budget-strained universities.
As in the universities, government-run companies also provide computer education courses,
though the contents are merely training for application software. These courses are expensive
but a great number of people desire to take them.
There are also many private education organizations in the city. Schools specializing insoftware provide courses as shown below:- Secretary and typist course (one year)- Executive secretary course (two years)- Desktop publishing course (two years)- Business information technology course (two years)- Multimedia information technology course (two years)
Japanese, U.S., and European companies have started to outsource their businesses to theirdivisions in Vietnam, according to the investigation report by Research Vietnam. For example,
such outsourcing companies include multinational companies such as Nortel Networks, Cisco,IBM, HP, British Aerospace, British Petroleum, Sony, and Tata Consultancy Services.
It is estimated that the cost for software development in Vietnam is 90% lower than that in
the U.S., or 1/7 to 1/3 of that in India. The Vietnamese government provides policies tosupport the development of the software outsourcing industry, including a nation-wide IT
development strategy. Ho Chi Minh city also has a budget for improving the infrastructure andfostering IT related human resources. There is a suggested plan to foster 25,000 softwaredevelopment engineers by 2005.
Multinational companies such as Aptech, Oracle, TCS, Microsoft, Cisco, and Novell also
have training centers in Vietnam.

1.4 E-Learning Market Trends
Information unavailable.

42. Technology: Trends of e-Learning System (Synchronous & Asynchronous)
Due to the communication infrastructure environment or IT literacy in Vietnam, most e-learning
related activities are performed on a project basis.
An e-learning center built in the outskirts of Hanoi with the support of the Ministry of Economy,
Trade, and Industry of Japan is expected to work as a core organization for e-learning related
activities. The center now uses LAN provided in the facility to utilize e-learning materials provided
from Japan for those who take IT Professional Examination.
A project called "Network Campus Initiative for Asia e-Learning", which was an experimental
project by AEN in 2002, has been performed by Keio University, HUT, Vietnam National University
Hanoi, the Institute of International Relations, Hoa Lac High-Tech Research Park, etc.
Several cases related to e-learning are described below.

2.1 Hanoi University of Technology (HUT)
URL: http://www.hut.edu.vn/

2.1.1 Overview
HUT was established by the present Vietnamese government in 1956 as one of the first five
universities.
HUT has been aggressive in international cooperation and has affiliation with more than 100
foreign universities, research organizations, and companies. HUT has an affiliation program
through which teachers of foreign universities and organizations can be invited to HUT toprovide special certificates to those who have completed the courses. This program provides
one bachelor's degree course and six master's degree courses.
HUT has a campus covering 35 hectares at the corner of Dai Co Viet Street and Giai Phong
Street in the south of Hanoi city in which a well-developed library and computer facilities areprovided.
The HUT Website describes two WBT courses for physics that are presumed to have been
operated in September 2000 (the details are unclear because the URL cannot be accessed).

2.2 Project Name: The Distance Education project
Main related organization: Can Tho University (CTU)
http://www.ctu.edu.vn/index_e.htm
http://www.ctu.edu.vn/daotao_tuxa/index_e.htm

2.2.1 Overview"The Distance Education project" is part of a joint program by CTU and the Flemish
Universities of Belgium under the financial supervision of the Flemish Council of Universities(VLIR).
This project's objective is to develop and test a distance learning system to satisfy theneeds of the Mekong River region in Vietnam.
In phase I, this project has been operating three experiments for the fields of economics,
science and others from April 1998 to March 2003.

2.3 Project Name: Vietnam Human Resource Development Project
Main related organizations: International Communications Foundation (ICF), Waseda
University, Post and Telecommunications Institute of Technology in Vietnam

52.3.1 Overview
A distance education experiment was conducted from 1999 to 2000 through cooperation
between ICF and other foundations.
In this experiment, remote lectures were provided regarding information communication
technology through videoconference system using international ISDN lines, to test the
information infrastructure and the distance education contents (e.g., material) developed by
the universities.

2.4 Service Name: MeetingPlaza
Main related organizations: NTT-IT Corporation and FPT
http://www.meetingplaza.com/FPT/* Although this is not an e-learning related project, MeetingPlaza is a unique commercial
service for providing a videoconference service in Vietnam by ASP and will be described below
for reference.

2.4.1 Overview
Through an affiliation between NTT-IT Corporation and FPT, an ASP service for an Internet
multi-point videoconference system called MeetingPlaza by NTT-IT Corporation was started in
Vietnam in April 2002. "The Internet multi-point videoconference: MeetingPlaza ASP service"
is sold by FPT to Japanese companies in Vietnam and Vietnamese companies having
business relations with Japanese companies.

3. Advanced Activities
Information unavailable.

64. Government Policy and its Vision (Mid- and Long-term Direction)
4.1 Status of IT Policies
4.1.1 Overview
ICT national strategies in Vietnam include "IT2000 (2001-2005)" and the next "IT
Vision2020 (2005-2020)".
Measures and policies regarding information communication in this country are divided into
(1) those determined by the prime minister and (2) those led by ministries in the government.

4.1.2 Policies and its Details(1) "IT2000 (2001-2005)"
IT2000, also called "IT development master plan", was announced by the government inApril 1995 to promote the introduction of IT into Vietnam by 2000. IT2000 was mainly
developed by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment (MOSTE) and an"IT2000 Office" was established in MOSTE to promote this policy.
The main objective of IT2000 is providing IT related departments in main universities,
fostering IT engineers, improving IT infrastructures in governmental organizations,promoting IT industries, and improving and supporting an IT network environment, as wellas filling the gap between Vietnam and neighboring countries. Another important objective
is to develop human resources.
The "Resolution No. 07/2000/NQ-CP" for IT development from 2000 to 2005, dated
June 5, 2000 has pointed out the weakness of IT sections in Vietnam in contrast to theincrease of global demand for IT industries. This paper also showed, however, apossibility of the software industry being a forefront runner in the development ofVietnam's economy in the near future and being given advantageous conditions andpriorities. In particular, this resolution clarified the objectives as follows:- To develop about 25,000 highly-skilled engineers and computer programmers by 2005.
- To give software industries special privileges for investment capital and import tax andapply preferential treatment to income tax for the export of software products.
- To revise copyright law to promote investment and software development.
This resolution was followed by the prime minister's approval of "Decision No. 128/2000/QDTTg" in November 2000 on a number of policies and measures to promote investment in anddevelopment of the software industry. This decision includes the following contents.
- Vietnamese software enterprises and foreign software enterprises operating in
Vietnam, not under the Law on Foreign Investment in Vietnam, shall enjoy theenterprise income tax rate of 25%.
- The tax rate of 20%, for enterprises investing in geographical areas with difficult socioeconomic conditions.
- The tax rate of 15%, for enterprises investing in geographical areas with particularly
difficult socio-economic conditions.
- Software enterprises subject to the Law on Foreign Investment in Vietnam shall enjoy
the enterprise income tax rate of 10%.
- Software enterprises shall be exempt from enterprise income tax for four years.
- Software products and services shall enjoy the highest value added tax preferences.
- Import tax shall be exempt for raw materials and materials in direct service of activities
of producing software products. Software products shall be exempt from export tax.
- Credit preferences, land use and rent preferences.
- Protection of copyright over software products.
- Training and development of IT human resources.

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(2) "IT Vision2020 (2005-2020)"
This is a strategy by 2010 and a guideline for IT development by 2020 according towhich a steering committee led by MOSTE was established for the support of the Office of
the Prime Minister.
Main objectives of IT Vision2020 include establishing a national information
infrastructure to keep up with neighboring countries and providing efficient, nation-wide,
high-speed and high quality communication.
(a) "Political Bureau's Directive No. 58/CT/TW (2005-2010)"
This has an objective of allowing Vietnamese IT industry to reach an advanced levelby 2010 compared to neighboring countries. Specifically, the objective is: to allow theratio of the Internet users in this country to be 1.5% of the population by 2005; toprovide a 20 to 25% average annual growth rate of IT industry; to increase theproduction of the software industry to be equivalent to 5 million U.S. dollars; and to train
more than 50,000 IT experts, including 25,000 programmers.
The main projects are as follows:- Improve the telecommunication network and to provide a higher quality Internet
infrastructure- Develop human resources for the IT industry- Develop domestic software- Promote local hardware industries(b) "Directive of the General Department of Post No. 01/2001/TCBD (2010-2020)"
This points out the necessity of providing favorable conditions that facilitate thedevelopment and application of IT technologies, which secure the speed and quality. Its
objectives are to provide a national information super highway covering the whole nationthat ensures high capacity, high speed and high quality at a reasonable fee, thus lifting
the rate of Internet users to the global average.
The main projects are as follows:- Improve the National Information Infrastructure (NII)- Enhance competitiveness- Reduce the fee for communication and Internet- Innovate business entities

4.2 E-Learning Related Measures as Part of IT or Educational Policies"Directive of the Ministry of Education and Training No. 29/2001/CT" dated June 30, 2001,
includes a description for the use of ICT in education.

4.3 Laws Regulating Rights for Intellectual Property and Personal Information in e-Learning
Information unavailable.

4.4 Vision
Information unavailable.

4.5 International and National Conference
Conferences related to e-learning are as follows.
(1) "Vietnam Ict in Education" conference and expo
- Period: February 2003
This was a conference and expo held by IDG, a private company, regarding the IT use ineducation in Vietnam.

8Originally, this conference was planned for the end of January 2003 but was postponed tothe end of February 2003, according to information provided by the host, in the middle ofFebruary 2003.
According to the host, outline of this conference is as follows.
- Estimated number of participants: 1,000- Speakers: Vietnamese government, universities, U.S. companies (Intel, Microsoft, IBM),etc.
- Exhibitors: Samsung, LG, Benq, CMS, FPT, etc.
- Host Organizations: IDG World Expo Asia, the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce andIndustry, the Center of Information Technology, Ministry of Education and Training in
Vietnam(2) Seminar by the University of Southern Queensland (USQ), Australia- Period: January 26, 2002
USQ has made a strong effort regarding distance education and has started providing an
online MBA course in Vietnam from January 2002. This seminar is an explanatory meeting forthe course. Local responsible sector for this course will be New Star ELT Center Vietnam, an
Australian capital company for English learning and training.

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